GRANDMOTHER-of-four Pamela Entwistle wanted an extension to her home but could not afford it so she decided to take matters into her own hands — she took a bricklaying course and then she put the skills to good effect by building the 23ft by 8ft extension to her home in Clitheroe.

Mrs Entwistle said: “I had a conservatory built on my house and I watched the builders and I just thought that maybe I could do it if I tried.”

The Deputy Mayoress of Clitheroe took night classes in a year-long course at Blackburn College, gaining an NVQ qualification.

She said: “We have always been quite a practical family and if we want something doing we take the ‘do it yourself’ approach.”

And she said construction ran in her genes with her grandmother, building two 60ft greenhouses when she was a young woman in the 1930s.

“My kids thought I was mad when I told them that I was going to learn how to be a bricklayer but I think that they’re proud of me now.”

It took Mrs Entwistle six months to construct the extension out of Thermalite blocks and red brick and she is currently putting the finishing touches to the interior.

She said: “I did all the foundations and the bricklaying but I did get some help from friends with the drains and I was forever asking my tutors for advice.

"I had a fantastic sense of achievement afterwards.”

Mrs Entwistle hopes that she will inspire other women to take up building.

She added: “There is more to building than meets the eye but that does not mean that it is hard to learn – I would definitely recommend it to other women who have been waiting years for that extension to their homes.”